The feature is one of the keynote presentations at the 17th International First Year in Higher Education (FYHE) Conference held in Darwin, Australia in early July. The top ranked refereed papers and nuts and bolts reports accepted for the conference are published as articles and practice reports respectively in this issue.

The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education (Int J FYHE) focuses on research and practice about enhancing the experience of commencing students.

Academic and professional staff involved in practices for enhancing the transition of students to higher education, as well as senior managers with responsibility for first year policies and strategies, will find items of interest in the journal.

Int J FYHE is published bi-annually with one issue linked to the International First Year in Higher Education Conference. There are three types of submissions in the journal: scholarly papers, practice-based innovations and ‘features’ which may include interviews or invited papers with key scholars and practitioners. There are no subscription or registration costs associated with this journal.

The journal will accept scholarly papers and practice initiatives which meet the definitions for research and CI journal publication as required by the 2014 HERDC Specifications.